Ratification of international labour standards

It is through the ratification of an ILO Convention that a member State formally undertakes to make the provisions of the Convention effective both in law and practice

The principle

Article 19 of the ILO Constitution provides that if the member State "obtains the consent of the authority or authorities within whose competence the matter lies, it will communicate the formal ratification of the Convention to the Director-General and will take such action as may be necessary to make effective the provisions of such Convention". Beyond that, no special requirements are laid down in the ILO Constitution as regards the form in which ratifications should be communicated to the ILO. The important thing is, of course, that the document in question clearly indicates that it constitutes the formal undertaking by a State to give effect to a specified Convention or Conventions and that it is signed by someone with authority to act on behalf of the State concerned.

When a country ratifies an ILO Convention it agrees to two important things. First, it agrees to implement the Convention. To understand the implications of this, the provisions of the Convention concerned must be reviewed. Second, it agrees to submit itself to the ILO's supervision of the measures it takes to implement the Convention.

Reservations not accepted

Ratifications cannot be accompanied by reservations: in other words a government is not allowed to pick and choose at its own discretion among the articles of a Convention which it undertakes to apply. On the other hand, the texts of a number of Conventions do in fact provide for certain exclusions, exceptions, or options. In some such cases it is specified that a declaration must be made at the time of ratification for the ratification itself to be valid.

In other cases, if a ratifying State wishes to avail itself of such permissive clauses, the declaration is optional and it has to say so in a declaration made in conjunction with the ratification if it is ever to do so or in the first report of the ratification of the Convention.

On receipt, ratifications of ILO Conventions are registered by the Director-General, notified to all member States of the ILO, and communicated to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Entry into force

A Convention must formally have entered into force before it can become binding on a ratifying State. Normal practice as regards ILO Conventions is to provide for their entry into force 12 months after registration of the second ratification, and after that for each ratifying State 12 months after registration of its ratification. To give an example, the Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144), received its first ratification on 15 February 1977 and its second on 16 May, and thus formally entered into force on 16 May 1978. Ratifications registered after 16 May 1977 will come into force 12 months after the date on which they were registered.